Warangal, July 20: Minister for Major Irrigation Ponnala Lakshmaiah has said he would build a strong case to show to expose the irregularities behind the Babhali project being undertaken by the Maharashtra Government. We will fight in the court of justice with regard to the issue, he said. The Minister was speaking to mediapersons at the `Meet the Press’ programme at Hanamkonda today.
Refuting allegations of the Opposition that the governmnent was remaining silent on Babhali, he said a team of 17 MPs from the State had taken the issue to the notice of the Centre earlier. An allparty committee including TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu and others has also met the Prime Minister and briefed him about the situation, he claimed. The Minister alleged that the Maharashtra Government was carrying on with the works of the project despite orders from the Centre to stall it.
The Maharashtra Government, Ponnala said, was trying to picture the issue of utilisation of Godavari water as an inter-State dispute and added that it was unfair. Maharashtra has encroached into the SRSP in our State and began construction of Babhali, he explained.
He said there was no truth in the Opposition’s criticism that the government was failing to take action.
It is only to gain political mileage that such allegations are being made, he said. The law will take its course and we will strive to prove that Maharashtra is guilty, he added.
On the multi-purpose Kantanapalli project to be constructed in the district, the Minister said the Centre will be urged to consider it as a national project. Once completed, the Rs 19,000-crore project will meet the irrigation and power requirements of the region, he said.
Stating that there was no shortage of funds for irrigation projects, he claimed the allocation has been hiked under the Congress rule.
Of the 26 pending projects in the State, 12 have been completed. Water has been released from another 19 projects, he said.
Stating that an amount of Rs 1.71 lakh crores was necessary for completing the projects, he said the State Government can pool only Rs 80,000 crore. For the remaining amount, the Centre is being urged for financial aid, he said.
He said irrigation water will be provided to each and every acre in the district. Efforts are on to set up factories related to cotton and chilli produce for generation of employment, he said.
Touching upon the rise in prices of essentials, he said it was not a problem of the State alone. Prices have risen across the country, he said and soon added that the government was trying to check it.
Claiming that the efforts of the government have helped in increasing the living standards of the poor and common people,
–Agencies–